News

Improving the world's 48 poorest nations' productive capacities, thus enabling them to link effectively into the global economy, is vital for helping them to transcend the "LDC" category, experts told the Trade and Development Board.

Experts at the UNCTAD Trade and Development Board session today said African countries will have to make major structural changes to their economies -- and should look at it as an opportunity to get in on the ground floor of green economic growth.

Twenty-six middle managers from the ports of Tema and Takoradi in Ghana completed last week their final session (Module 8) of the UNCTAD Modern Port Management course conducted in cooperation with the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GHPA).

The University American College Skopje (UACS) of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia has joined the UNCTAD Virtual Institute as its 78th institutional member, bringing the count of countries represented in the Vi to 41.

The high-level segment of UNCTAD's Trade and Development Board today held in-depth discussions on "Growth with poverty reduction: What can Africa learn from other regions?” Reduced dependence on commodities and more industrialization are needed to reverse the pattern of growth that does not create enough jobs, panellists said.

The Honorable Robert K. Sichinga, Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry of Zambia will be addressing the high-level segment of the 59th session of UNCTAD's Trade and Development Board on Monday, 17 September.

A new UNCTAD study just released sheds further light on the role of commodities in the economic growth and development of the 48 countries designated by the United Nations as least developed countries (LDCs).

With financial support from the One UN fund and technical support from UNCTAD, Tanzania has introduced an online tool to help investors and entrepreneurs gain easy access to up-to-date information on investment-related procedures. The system currently being implemented by the Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC) is the "e-Regulations" programme developed by UNCTAD.​

Delivering the keynote address at the opening ceremony of the 2012 China Overseas Investment Summit in Hong Kong yesterday, UNCTAD Secretary-General Supachai Panitchpakdi urged Chinese business leaders to avoid the mistakes made by Western multinationals in Africa, and to take corporate social responsibility seriously.